Fine Line on a Razor's Edge
by samurai-ashes
Summary: Sometimes, the things you want to forget are the very first ones to worm their way back into your life. [KaibaYami Bakura; gift ficlet for purkledragon]


**_Ashes doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh!_**

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It was much easier to maintain a relationship that didn't have any solid foundation, and where trust wasn't even an issue – there was none, and we both knew it. So long as I was in control, I could handle any situation with calculated ease. He had been like that; good body, compliant enough that I didn't worry about being killed in my sleep, and not so perfect that he was boring. Everyone else I'd met seemed to have the art of clean living worked to perfection. He made for a nice change of pace. 

Of course it had been too good too last; I should have known as well as anyone that the bad guys could rarely be tamed. He started pushing for a little more power between the two of us, and when he started getting it, I responded by dropping him cold turkey. I ignored his summons, tightened security around my home, and waited for the worst. 

Just outside my office door, I heard the tell-tale sounds of the elevator bell and its doors opening. Then nothing. The clock read 12:37 AM, too late for any regular employees and too early for the security checks. I reached down into my drawer, eyes fixed on the door as my hand wrapped around the grip of the handgun I kept hidden – and I waited. Two seconds, ten, twenty… 

"Hello, Kaiba." 

He stepped into view, and I did what my gut told me – I whipped the gun out and leveled it at his head, frowning; it was a meager bargaining chip. I couldn't have expected him to NOT to show up, and I didn't expect him to leave easily, not the way he was. For as much as I craved control, he did as well. Neither of us were the type to give in without a fight, and I wasn't in this to lose. 

Regarding the gun almost flippantly, he smirked. "Well, well, I'd think you weren't happy to see me tonight. Is something wrong?" 

"I would think," I said through gritted teeth, "that after three weeks of ignoring you, you'd take a hint." 

He shrugged, striding in like he was welcome and sitting across from me, feet up on my desk. "Well, it happens when you try to stake claim on a busy man, I suppose. Am I to take it you don't want my companionship?" 

"Yes." 

"Then why don't you drop the gun and ask me to leave – I've always been nice to you, haven't I, Kaiba?" He was examining his hands, his words and expression almost mocking, like he was toying with me. As though he thought he could. "Oh, that's right – you're an extremist. So, since we're obviously on such happy terms, why don't you let me in on the secret to your sudden change of heart? As far as I understood, things were going swimmingly." 

It was my turn to smirk, eyes narrowing at the amusement he seemed to glean from it. "I had to clean out my schedule, and you were one of things that had to go." 

"Is that so? It seems to me that you're afraid." He leaned back further in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest and tilting his head to give me a superior sort of look. His next words only added to his mockery: "Of me." 

I snorted. "Like hell. Why would I be afraid of you?" 

"Because I am the only man in Domino more powerful than yourself," he said, gesturing to the gun. "Take that, for instance. That is nothing more than a way for you to level off the difference; take control over my life, and you're a step above me. Note that I'm still here, Kaiba. Because for as much as you like your power trip, you can't actually pull the trigger." 

I licked my lips, focusing on the implication of his words, and ignoring that in a way, he was right. "Says who?" 

"Because you want to be a good guy," he said, laughing. His words took a more come-hither tone as he continued, "I watch you, Kaiba; been doing it for a long time. No matter how many bad things you do, in the end, you quietly end up on the 'right' side of black-and-white – even I'm an example. By topping the bad guy, you are inevitably playing the role of the good guy; after all, isn't that what the good guys do?" He stood, making his way slowly around the desk; my aim followed him. "Keep the enemy subdued, keep him down and under-control, keep him from doing anyone harm – even at the cost of himself. Think about it." He was in front of me, leaning down – right against the barrel of the gun, grinning like he'd already won. "You pull that trigger, and you're no longer the good guy. I don't think you're willing to be Domino's enemy again, are you?" 

Ignoring his implications, I said, "You said it yourself," my voice was too hoarse for my own comfort, "you're the bad guy. How does killing you make me wrong?" I had to adjust as he leaned closer, the end of the barrel sliding to his temple, his lips so close my mine, teasing and tempting and infuriating all at once. He was wrong: I didn't want to be some great hero; repentance wasn't my thing, and 'bad guy' wasn't a title I'd signed up for, just one that I bore silently for past transgressions. 

"Kill me," he whispered, "and you're killing someone else too – and his will be the body they find, not mine. Have you forgotten already, Kaiba?" 

"I don't believe that." 

"You must believe it enough not do have done anything yet. Enough to let me up this close and put you in your place." 

"Put me in my place?" I said, narrowing my eyes at him. "Like I'd let you do this if I didn't have a gun pointed at your head." 

"Then do it," he taunted, one hand on my cheek, the other much lower. "Take me out, take your place as the most powerful man in Domino. Just remember…" Closing the final space between us, his lips met mine, taking no time in plundering, marking territory as though challenging me to take it back as mine… and I did, reminding him just who he was to me, who was in control when it came to the two of us. He chuckled as he pulled away and finished, "Life begins in darkness; don't overvalue the light." 

**-end-**

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**notes**  
Thanks to lsl for the beta. d Did quite the job! 

This is a request!ficlet that is just FINALLY getting done. xo We're talking, I've had it since last summer old. Oh, the guilt. TT So I really hope purkledragon likes it. ; 

Actually, though, I like this final idea; it was a good time, and I can't remember the last time I wrote any good emotional blackmail, if I ever did. And I like the way it ends. XD 

Thanks for help on this one go out to flamesword, greenfey, specterhunter, and probably a million other people I've forgotten about. ; Its been in the works for a while. The last line of the story is actually something specterhunter got out of fortune cookie - I changed a word, removed another, but otherwise it's word for word. 

Working a gun into this was difficult, because I can't see Y.Bakura regarding Kaiba as enough of threat to want to hold a gun to his head, and I can't see Y.Bakura disregarding Kaiba if he was the one holding the gun. But Y.Bakura is needlessly cocky, lol, so I hope I pulled it off. And I didn't want to call Y.Bakura "Bakura," in this one, because I don't think that he'd just pass it off as his name. oO I guess I could see him just going with being called it. The pronoun game wins! 

Trying to tie the title into it all… well, my final conclusion was maybe referring to Kaiba and his not-quite-bad-guy-ness? I'm not quite sure how to work that. 


End file.
